Charitable Bequest

10/03/2016

A frugal librarian's $4 million bequest to a university has unintentionally sparked a controversy over how the money should be used.

Recent news that a frugal and eccentric librarian left a $4 million charitable bequest to the University of New Hampshire where he worked at first caught the public's attention because of the uniqueness of the story. However, with those headlines falling out of the news, the story has taken a twist as many alumni are not pleased with how the university plans to spend the funds.

Robert Morin left instructions that earmarked $100,000 to the school library where he worked, but the remainder of the donation was given freely. The university quickly announced how it would spend it.

The plans include spending $1 million on a new football scoreboard, which has outraged some people who would rather the money be spent on academics.

For its part the university states that in the last years of his life Morin had grown to love football and that he would approve of the plan. The controversy is, of course, part of a much larger debate about athletics and academics at colleges.

It is unlikely to be resolved any time soon.

One lesson for donors to keep in mind is that if they do not wish for their donations to be used in specific ways, then that needs to be stated in the bequest. What Morin would have wanted cannot be definitively known.

By not leaving instructions, it has to be assumed he wanted the university to spend the money however it sees fit.

03/06/2015

A university as old as Princeton has received many bequests, but perhaps none quite as magnificent as a recent bequest that is the largest Princeton has ever received. The university recently revealed the contents of the $300 million bequest. Some amazing treasures are included.

William Scheide inherited a startling collection that his grandfather had started. The collection has been maintained at Princeton University since 1959. When Scheide passed away a few months ago, he left the entire collection to the university.